The Central Bank of Brazil has excluded crypto companies from participating in its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot. Although the bank did not explicitly exclude crypto firms, it requires all participants to be registered and regulated finance or fintech providers, which excludes crypto companies as they are not currently regulated under Brazilian law. The bank aims to launch its CBDC later this year and is looking for firms with experience in the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and distributed ledger technology (DLT) to test transactions involving the digital real. The bank will select 10 firms to participate in the pilot, and the deadline for applications is May 12.

Geoff Kendrick, the crypto research chief at Standard Chartered Bank, has highlighted the importance of greater regulation and the involvement of central banks in the crypto industry to reassure investors after the high profile collapse of stablecoin TerraUSD, the centralized exchange FTX, and a trio of crypto-friendly banks. Kendrick believes that central bank digital assets are becoming important for the crypto ecosystem and will legitimize some of the private sector stablecoins, helping to lower volatility in Ethereum and Bitcoin. He also predicts that global investors will have part of their pension invested in crypto markets, including the most liquid assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Kendrick is keeping a close eye on Ethereum, Solana, Lido, and Uniswap. He believes that Ethereum will continue to dominate, Solana will bounce back, Lido will perform well given the low staked market in Ethereum, and decentralized exchanges like Uniswap will trade well. Kendrick stresses the need for greater transparency in stablecoins and expects regulations specifically around stablecoins soon. He is critical of the slow response of the SEC to crypto policy in the US and predicts that crypto flows and companies may move out of the US to Europe given regulatory positives.

The United States White House has released a national standards strategy for key and emerging technologies, which includes distributed ledger technology (DLT) and digital identity infrastructure.

BNP Paribas China has announced it will launch a digital yuan wallet management platform in partnership with the state-owned commercial bank, Bank of China. The platform will enable BNP Paribas China to provide its corporate clients with e-CNY services, including wallet opening and management services, token conversion, and spending options. The two banks will also explore other digital yuan-related business avenues, such as offline digital yuan payments, supply chain financing, smart contracts, and cross-border settlements. Analysts believe the involvement of foreign banks in the digital yuan wallet space could facilitate cross-border payments between China and other countries and usher in new opportunities for the internationalization of the yuan.

U.S. presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy Jr. has expressed his support for Bitcoin and opposition to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in a Twitter thread. Kennedy believes that CBDCs would give the government unprecedented power to surveil and control economic life, while Bitcoin allows people to conduct transactions without government interference. He also highlighted examples of governments financially censoring their political enemies, citing the Canadian government's freezing of the bank accounts of over 200 individuals protesting against the vaccine mandate. Several U.S. politicians and states have also taken a stand against CBDCs, citing the risk of financial censorship, though some stakeholders have warned that anti-CBDC moves could hurt Bitcoin.

Florida has taken a stand against central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) with an anti-CBDC bill that has received overwhelming support in both the state House and Senate. The bill, titled "The Virtual Currency Consumer Protection Act," proposes to ban the use of CBDCs in Florida, citing concerns about privacy, security, and the potential for abuse.

The cryptocurrency's dominance rate, which measures Bitcoin's share of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization, has risen to over 50%, its highest level in months.

A myriad of unforeseeable “consequences” will be brought about by retail central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) claimed.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took another swing at a U.S. digital dollar today even as he defended crypto as a whole, unveiling a series of state legislative proposals that would combat "woke politics."

Binance, FTX plans to restart Japanese exchange; PayPal subsidiary Venmo to introduce cryptocurrency transfers; Visa to develop Brazilian blockchain-powered CBDC project; step-by-step guide to asset tokenization.